Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-07-01
A Romance Of the Met
ropolis.
Founded upon Notes from the
Diary OF Inspector Byrnes.
copyrighted 1887 by o. NJ. Dunham.)
Contisued from last week.
CHAPTER ".

from the Manhattan> Saving institution
by the mysterious burglars became. known
the sensation created was profound and
widespread The great robbery was the
talk of New York, and indeed of the whole
country That so vast an amount OF
money should heve been distracted from
the vaults of one of the oldest and best
guarded banks in the city, in broad day
light, and practically in full view of the
entire populotion that this should have
been done, and no trace of any of the per
petrators remain, was a fact appalling
enough to brighten the boldest. Bankers
brokers, merchants, jewellers and trades
men asked themselves seriously whether
any security was possible against the dia-
bolical cunning and ingenuity of trained
burglars. The strongest doors gave way
before them like magic. They seemed to
possess the power of rendering themselves
invisible at will. Where and how was Sc
curity to be found? Under these circum-
stances, the efforts of the police to cap
ture the unknown criminals were watched
with no ordinary or transient interest.
Meanwhile, the head Of the detectives
returned to his office and committed to
writing the present results of his investi-
cation into the great mystery. There was
certainly small ground for encourage
ment so far but the inspector was one of
those men who know how to wait as well
as to watch After finishing his report,
and carefully considering the matter, in
all it's bearings, in his mind, he gave di-
rections to have all the witnesses who
had been discovered brought before
him.
Ln Errt Nft 70 ha
janitor, Werkle, and his wife, and they
were subjected to close cross question
ing. They told substantially the same
story that has been already related. Their
testimony developed very little that was
new, and nothing that was both new and
important. But their appearance and
bearing were such that it was difficult to
suppose them capable of criminal deceit
They were evidently persons of very
ordinary intelligence, accustomed to a
low sphere of life, and with no ambition
to rise above it, either honestly or other
wise. There was no trace i'll their bearing
of desire to conceal anything; on the
contrary, their tendency to pour out
words on all subjects, both relevant and
irrelevant, had to be restrained rather
than encouraged If the fact that Werkle
had been entrusted by the bank officials
with responsibilities of such magnitude
was strange. it would have been still
stranger Udd neu WIN contemplated d
colossal robbery, taken such feeble per-
son into their confidence. Werkle's own
story, in short, had more inherent proba-
bility than any other that could be sub
stituted for it. Nevertheless, the keenest
judge of character may sometimes be mis-
led, and the inspector did not allow his
impression DIS to the Werkles to appear on
the surface. He impressed upon them the
gravity of their situation, and they de
parted in the belief that the law had
Its eye upon them and might have some
thing further to say to them later on.
kohlman, the barber, was the next wit
ness, and his evidence brought to light
one or two noteworthy points. One of
these was the fact that he was always in
the shop by quarter before seven, and
that this Sunday morning had proved no
exception to the rule. Now, as his shop
was directly underneath the bank, any
noise made above was audible to him; he
was even able to distinguish the sound of
the janitor's footsteps moving about in
his daily avocations. But on this occasion
he had heard nothing at all, or at all
events, nothing unusual; and since the
process of breaking into safe Is some
thing from which noise, and noise of a
very noticeable kind, is inseparable, it
would seem to follow assuming his story
to be true) that the heavy part of the rob
berry, at least, must have been accom-
plished before he entered his shop. Wer-
kle's testimony proved, however, that the
robbers could not have got to work before
aquarter past six at the earliest, and this
left no more than half an hour, or possibly
40 minutes for the operation.
If the burglary had shown evidence on
rare professional skill on the burglars
part, the discovery that all the work had
been done in half an hour proved them tC
be cOnsummate masters of their craft
and amply accounted for the fact thai
they had left some of the safes untouched
Nearly three million of dollars in thirty
minutes was an excellent rate of income
and might easily have satisfied even 81
eXacting person as a New York banl
burglar. Moreover, the bundles of bond
and securities must have been rather
troublesome to carry, and 1t was probabl,
that the thieves had loaded themselves t,
the extreme of prudence and could no
safely have taken away any more. Indeed
it was standing marvel that they shoul,
have walked away, unchecked and un
seen, with so much.
Another point of possible Importance il
the BARRIERS testimony was introduced b
an accidental allusion made by him to tn
unknown gentleman who had follOwe
Werkle down to his saloon. Kohlma
could give no exact description of thi
stranger, beyond that he was rather abov
the medium size, was of gentlemanly al
pearance, and wore large amethyst rim
on MS nnBer. lnere was nothing remark
able in his having entered kohlman
shop; any one has right to walk into
BARRIERS saloon, even if he walks OF
again without profiting by the barber
professional assistance, and it was quit
natural that this gentleman should hay
been interested by the janitor's story in
purely abstract and impersonal wa,
Nevertheless, every straw may have ii
value in case so mysterious as the pre-
ent, and the inspector made a note of til
man with the amethyst ring. He migf
be useful. if for nothing else, as a witne!
to confirm the testimony of Werkle an
the barber.
The latter was now dismissed and
couple of police officers were admitte
who had been in the neighborhood of IL
bank at the time of the robbery. One
these was the man who had seen a perso
whom he took for the janitor busting tt
furniture IN the outer Office at about ha
past six in the morning, This estabisht
the fact that the burglars had provide
themselves with a lookout; :" but ina
much as the lookout in question was u
doubleday disguised-h was described
wearing long pair of whiskers, reser
bling those of the real janitor-it was u
likely that the testimony would prove
be of much practical use The OF n